Prescott Decisions Francisco

By Mike Sloan

Colombian contender Breidis Prescott continued on the winning track by toppling tough Puerto Rican-American Francisco Figueroa over eight rounds inside the Doubletree Miamimart Hotel. The featured bout of the evening, Prescott used his superior boxing skills and slight edge in speed to offset his junior welterweight opponent to win a hard-fought but well-deserved unanimous decision.

Prescott seemed to be on his way to an easy night when he floored Figueroa with a left hook in the opening frame of the contest. “Gato” got back to his feet but was felled moments later courtesy of another left hand. Figueroa was shaken and it seemed like he was going to be taken out, but his resilience kept him afloat and allowed him to survive the round.

Figueroa was able to clear his head in the second and by the third, he was back in the fight. Though he was losing the contest and appeared a step behind his sharper opponent, he never stopped trying to turn the tables.

Prescott was cruising along until he was caught with an errant overhand right in the fifth, a punch that sent the Colombian onto his gloves and knees. Though Prescott was more off-balance than anything, he did hit the deck from a punch and it was properly ruled a knockdown. That was the only genuine time where Prescott wasn’t in control of the action and once he was allowed to continue, he resumed his position of dominance and never looked back.

Figueroa, who hails from the Bronx, was relentless and hung tough for the full eight rounds, but in the end it was Prescott who had his hand raised in victory. The three ringside judges favored Prescott via margins of 79-71, 78-71 and 77-73 to improve to 26-4 with 18 KOs. Figueroa dipped to 20-5-1 with 13 KOs.

Cuban junior lightweight contender Rances Barthelemy was too much for Mexican Alejandro Rodriguez to handle as he coasted to an eight round unanimous decision. After knocking his opponent down in the first round with a nice left hook, he controlled the action until the end. Rodriguez tried to get into the fight and offset his sharper, faster foe, but it was of no use and wound up losing every round on all three judges’ scorecards (80-71 thrice). Barthelemy bolstered his pro ledger to 17-0 with 11 KOs while Rodriguez fell to 14-7 with 7 KOs.

Middleweight prospect Roberto Acevedo kept his perfect record intact by dominating Donald Clark (2-3, 1 KO) over six rounds. Acevedo, now 6-0 with 4 KOs, won with scores of 60-54 and 59-55 (twice).

Light heavyweight prospect Radivoje Kaladzic, from Serbia, tore apart Jerrod Caldwell (2-1-1, 1 KO) with a barrage of punches in the first round. He pummeled his opponent until the ref stopped it at 1:49 to improve to 7-0 with his fifth pro knockout.

Welterweight Malcom Stimphil won his professional debut by unanimous four round decision over Cassius Clay (0-6). Stimphil was awarded the verdict via tallies of 40-36 from all three judges.

And finally, Cuban junior middleweight Leosvy Mayedo (3-2, 2 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over Joseph Benjamin (3-22 with 3 KOs) to open the evening. He won with scores of 40-34 on all three cards. You can also contact Mike Sloan at www.facebook.com/mikesloan19 or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@mikesloan .